Above are pictures of Yaxchilan
Before heading back to San Cristobal yesterday, we went back to the ruins of Palenque for a short early morning visit, the best time to go there (not a lot of tourists).
The modern discovery of Palenque is very interesting and it starts with a bored priest. His name was Aguilar and in 1773 he heard a fantastic story from a local indian. This indian told him about a lost city deep in the jungle, a city greater than anything ever seen before. It was near the town of Santo Domingo de Palenque, a 70 mile hike away. So 60 dutiful parishiners carried him in a sedan chair 70 miles through the thick jungle. The sight he saw was stunning...the most beautiful Mayan city of all, each building a work of art with carved stone to rival anything the ancient Greeks or Romans built. Aguilar wasn´t bored any more.
Many interesting explorers came after the priest, but the most colorful had to be a Frenchman named the Count de Woldeck. At the age when most men thought of retirement, 64, he set off into the deep jungle to live. Reaching Palenque, he set up household on one of the temples (today called the Temple of the Count, no less) and selected the most nubile of the young maidens of the village as his ´housekeeper´. Over the next several years, the Count made many beautiful drawings and helped with the excavation of the site. He eventually went back to Paris and married again at the age of 102. He die at the age of 105, being run over by a streetcar in Paris.
Since then, there have been many fanciful stories being said about Palenque. Some have said it must have been built by Hindus or Buddists, as there are so many similiarities between things seen at Paleque and at sights in Asia and India. Some have said it must have been the Romans, as only they could have built such amazing stone buildings.
Others, including a man we met, believe that this is going to be where people are going to be transferred to the ´other side´, as the Mayans have predicted the end of the world on December 23, 2012 and this will be the center of the whole shebang. At least that is what some modern New Age ´scholars´have said what the Mayans predicted.
The truth is that this was a great city of the Classic Mayan Age and was at its height under King Pakal, who lived from 603 to 683 AD. In the late 800s, it was defeated by Tonina and soon their society ended after that.
Outside of the city entrance are some souvenier stands. The coolest is run by Lacandon indians, who will sell you a neat little bow and arrow set (comes in small, medium and large sizes) and each arrow has a different arrowhead, as they hunt different creatures with the different arrowheads.
Palenque is indeed the most amazing of all the Maya sites as it is huge, covering about 12 square miles. Only a small portion has been totally excavated and cleaned up and as you walk into the jungle there are many small ´hills´, which are of course Mayan buildings of one kind or another. If you come here, make sure you visit the ruins in the early morning or right before closing time, as that is when the fewest tourists are there. It´s nice having the place practially to yourself.
But where Palenque is huge and very impressive and quite clean, I think I preferred Yaxchilan. It is a much more magical place , as it is still mysterious, being in the middle of the jungle, with the jungle still in the middle of Yaxchilan. Sacred Ceiba trees still grow out of the main plaza and the stairways which climb hundreds of feet up to the temples.
From there, we took the 5 1-2 hour bus ride back to San Cristobal. How nice it is to be back in the highlands. It´s pretty cool and there has been a little rain. Last night we had an amazing meal at a French restaurant, called Pierre´s. It was without a doubt the best French food I have had outside of France. Pierre started us off with a plateau du charcuterie, a wide variety of homemade ham and pates...even the butter was homemade. Amy had a lapin a la moutarde, which was quite tasty and I had ravioli, stuffed with pork and flambeed, topped with 5 big whole prawns. It was too die for. Then, to top it off, we had the best mousse au chocolate I´ve ever had in my life. The chocolate is from Tabasco and according to Pierre, this is where the best Mexican chocolate comes from. It was rich and very creamy. I hope we go back again. A little expensive, but worth it.
Today we took a horseback ride to San Juan Chamula, the same indigenous pueblo we went to last week. With us were a couple of young American women, Scarlett and Jessica. Scarlett is from Berkeley and Jessica is from New Jersey. It was a fun ride, lasting about an hour and a half, through some nice forests of juniper and pine. At the town, they were preparing for their big festival day of their patron saint, San Juan. The church was all duded up with ribbons and pine branches and other things. There was a market in front of the church where we had several small soft tacos filled with carne asada and pollo. Four tacos were 10 pesos (one dollar).
The modern discovery of Palenque is very interesting and it starts with a bored priest. His name was Aguilar and in 1773 he heard a fantastic story from a local indian. This indian told him about a lost city deep in the jungle, a city greater than anything ever seen before. It was near the town of Santo Domingo de Palenque, a 70 mile hike away. So 60 dutiful parishiners carried him in a sedan chair 70 miles through the thick jungle. The sight he saw was stunning...the most beautiful Mayan city of all, each building a work of art with carved stone to rival anything the ancient Greeks or Romans built. Aguilar wasn´t bored any more.
Many interesting explorers came after the priest, but the most colorful had to be a Frenchman named the Count de Woldeck. At the age when most men thought of retirement, 64, he set off into the deep jungle to live. Reaching Palenque, he set up household on one of the temples (today called the Temple of the Count, no less) and selected the most nubile of the young maidens of the village as his ´housekeeper´. Over the next several years, the Count made many beautiful drawings and helped with the excavation of the site. He eventually went back to Paris and married again at the age of 102. He die at the age of 105, being run over by a streetcar in Paris.
Since then, there have been many fanciful stories being said about Palenque. Some have said it must have been built by Hindus or Buddists, as there are so many similiarities between things seen at Paleque and at sights in Asia and India. Some have said it must have been the Romans, as only they could have built such amazing stone buildings.
Others, including a man we met, believe that this is going to be where people are going to be transferred to the ´other side´, as the Mayans have predicted the end of the world on December 23, 2012 and this will be the center of the whole shebang. At least that is what some modern New Age ´scholars´have said what the Mayans predicted.
The truth is that this was a great city of the Classic Mayan Age and was at its height under King Pakal, who lived from 603 to 683 AD. In the late 800s, it was defeated by Tonina and soon their society ended after that.
Outside of the city entrance are some souvenier stands. The coolest is run by Lacandon indians, who will sell you a neat little bow and arrow set (comes in small, medium and large sizes) and each arrow has a different arrowhead, as they hunt different creatures with the different arrowheads.
Palenque is indeed the most amazing of all the Maya sites as it is huge, covering about 12 square miles. Only a small portion has been totally excavated and cleaned up and as you walk into the jungle there are many small ´hills´, which are of course Mayan buildings of one kind or another. If you come here, make sure you visit the ruins in the early morning or right before closing time, as that is when the fewest tourists are there. It´s nice having the place practially to yourself.
But where Palenque is huge and very impressive and quite clean, I think I preferred Yaxchilan. It is a much more magical place , as it is still mysterious, being in the middle of the jungle, with the jungle still in the middle of Yaxchilan. Sacred Ceiba trees still grow out of the main plaza and the stairways which climb hundreds of feet up to the temples.
From there, we took the 5 1-2 hour bus ride back to San Cristobal. How nice it is to be back in the highlands. It´s pretty cool and there has been a little rain. Last night we had an amazing meal at a French restaurant, called Pierre´s. It was without a doubt the best French food I have had outside of France. Pierre started us off with a plateau du charcuterie, a wide variety of homemade ham and pates...even the butter was homemade. Amy had a lapin a la moutarde, which was quite tasty and I had ravioli, stuffed with pork and flambeed, topped with 5 big whole prawns. It was too die for. Then, to top it off, we had the best mousse au chocolate I´ve ever had in my life. The chocolate is from Tabasco and according to Pierre, this is where the best Mexican chocolate comes from. It was rich and very creamy. I hope we go back again. A little expensive, but worth it.
Today we took a horseback ride to San Juan Chamula, the same indigenous pueblo we went to last week. With us were a couple of young American women, Scarlett and Jessica. Scarlett is from Berkeley and Jessica is from New Jersey. It was a fun ride, lasting about an hour and a half, through some nice forests of juniper and pine. At the town, they were preparing for their big festival day of their patron saint, San Juan. The church was all duded up with ribbons and pine branches and other things. There was a market in front of the church where we had several small soft tacos filled with carne asada and pollo. Four tacos were 10 pesos (one dollar).
No comments:
Post a Comment